Brodsky Quartet celebrate their 50th anniversary with a complete cycle of Shostakovich’s String Quartets across one weekend, played in the intimacy of Hall One, interleaved with talks.

The second of the Sunday concerts explores the last two of the four quartets dedicated to members of the Beethoven Quartet, the composer’s close friends and colleagues, who premiered almost all of Shostakovich’s quartets. Each of these four – known as the ‘Quartet of Quartets’, Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14 – is dedicated to a different member of the group. Hear a short intro from Elizabeth Wilson and the Quartet, before hearing String Quartets Nos. 13 and 14.

This concert will last approx. 1hr 20min with no interval

In Part 5 of the cycle, at 11.30am, you’ll hear in-depth discussion on quartets Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14, as well as performances of Nos. 11 and 12. Book tickets for the 11.30am concert.

This concert forms part of Brodsky Quartet’s weekend celebration of all of Shostakovich’s String Quartets. See details for The Complete Shostakovich Quartets.

Elizabeth Wilson is the author of Shostakovich- A Life Remembered, considered by many to be the most vivid, informative and revealing biography of the composer. As a cellist, she studied in Moscow with Mstislav Rostropovich – during which time she encountered Shostakovich, and attended the premières of many of his later works.  As a performer she has worked with such major composers as Arvo Part, Alfred Schnittke and James MacMillan, and as a biographer has also written of Jacqueline Du Pre and her teacher Rostropovich. Her most recent book, Playing with Fire, is devoted to the life and times of the maverick Soviet pianist Maria Yudina, friend and champion of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Hindemith and Stravinsky.